Call Me When You're Sober
by CrazyNerdyFangirl
Summary: Not a songfic, though inspired by the song. Max’s otherwise perfect boyfriend Fang is an alcoholic. So what will happen when she meets the beautiful Dylan? Is he too perfect to be true? And WHY is Fang drinking? Who will Max choose? All-human. R & R?
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Don't you just freaking **_**hate**_** writer's block? Yeah, I have writer's block on most of my stories (the ones I haven't updated today) so I decided to start a new story. *facepalm* I was listening to Call Me When You're Sober by Evanescence so I decided to write my first AH. This most likely sucks, but I'm trying to keep my mind off my horrible, horrible writer's block. Probably a cliché too. This is inspired by the song, but it's not a songfic. I had just read a ton of AHs where Max had an abusive boyfriend or a boyfriend who got drunk a lot and then she meets Fang and they live happily ever after, blah, blah, blah. So I decided to change that around a little. **

**Ages: Max- 16, Fang- 16, Iggy- 16, Angel- 6, Gazzy- 8, Nudge- 14. Angel and Nudge aren't in the story yet. They'll probably come in the next chapter. Max and Iggy are twins. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride. Why? Because I couldn't think of an idea that awesome.**

Max's POV

The phone rang again. It was probably Fang wanting to apologize for what he had said to last night. I wanting to punch something, to break something, but I took a few calming breaths to relax myself. Breaking something wouldn't exactly be a good idea, especially considering my dad's…condition.

It happened like this every time. Fang would call me drunk, demanding sex or tell me how bad of a girlfriend I was. I would tell him that I was tired of putting up with his crap and hang up on him. Then he would call again, apologizing, and I would forgive him, hoping he would one day change back to the fun, loving, _sober_ boyfriend he had been when we had first started going out.

I sighed and picked up my cell phone. I looked at the caller ID. I had been right, it was Fang. I flipped my cell phone open and held it to my ear.

"What is it, Fang?" I tried to make my voice as cold as possible, hoping that this time, I would be able to say goodbye to him once and for all.

"Max, I'm sorry. I really am. Please forgive me?" Fang pleaded with me. He sounded more rational now, completely unlike last night. I knew he was really trying. He never talked much, and when he did talk a lot, it was only for things of great importance.

"And why should I?"

"Because I love you, Max. I promise." Fang sounded sincere but I knew this whole thing would happen again sooner or later. Most likely sooner. But I loved him too. Or rather, I loved the old Fang, not the constantly drunk one that he was now. But I knew that he could go back to the old Fang if he tried. So I decided to forgive him.

"Fine, Fang," I sighed. Fang started to say something, but I cut him off. "But never call me when you're drunk again," I warned. I ended the call and flopped down on my bed. I knew this would most likely happen again, but I couldn't walk away from him. I was hoping against all hope that one day, he would call me when he was sober.

I lay on the bed and shut my eyes, wishing that I had never agreed to go out with Fang in the first place. But then, I would never have fallen in love for the first time. Fang's real name was Nick but no one ever called him that. He claimed that it made him sound wimpy. I had been excited when he had first asked me out. He was popular; he could have any girl he wanted. I was a tomboy who didn't give a damn about what anyone thought about her. Even though we were so different, we had been best friends since childhood. Our parents were friends, so we had ended up talking to each other a lot when our parents were having "a grown-up conversation". We were also next-door neighbors. We never really publicized our friendship—we hung out in very different groups—but we never exactly hid it either. I always thought we would be best friends forever. Many girls had called Fang "dark" and "mysterious". Nobody could really, truly read him except for me and vice versa.

But he had never expressed any romantic interest in me until the beginning of this school year when he asked me out. I had said no at first, not being a very social or romantic person, but he had pressed the issue, and eventually, I had said yes. He was an amazing boyfriend when he had first started going out, but about 3 months into the relationship, he started drinking. I never broke up with him because I thought he could change.

Apparently not.

Suddenly, somebody burst into my bedroom. The door was knocked against the wall with a loud _bang_. My brother James ran into my bedroom, smiling widely. His strawberry blonde hair was messy and his sightless blue eyes looked wild. This couldn't be good.

"What's up, Iggy?" Nobody ever called him James. He said that it made him sound like an old man who writes books and makes his fans unhappy for fun.

Iggy grinned, which was not a good sign. "I made a bomb…" He rubbed his hands together evilly. Iggy was our pyromaniac blind kid. How he made bombs without being able to see, nobody would ever know.

I looked at him warily. "Yes, Iggy?"

He began to open his mouth to speak but someone else ran into the room, interrupting him.

"Iggy! The bomb! It blew up!" My ten-year-old brother Gazzy yelled excitedly. His real name was Zane, but everyone who knew him called him Gazzy. Don't ask. Just stay far, far away from him after he has just eaten beans for dinner. Just do it. He was our second pyromaniac. It was so much _fun_ living with two guys who liked to blow things up.

Iggy's eyes widened. "It actually worked?"

Gazzy nodded vigorously and grinned. "I pressed the button you told me to, and it blew up like _boom_!" He paused, trying to motion with his hands to make Iggy see how big the explosion was. He seemed to momentarily forget that Iggy was blind. "It was beautiful," Gazzy said. Iggy was such a bad influence.

"Come see!" Gazzy yelled, grabbing Iggy's hand and trying to drag him out the door. Iggy didn't let him drag him out though.

"Gazzy, I'll catch up to you later. I need to talk to Max," he said it casually, but I knew something was up.

Gazzy walked out of my bedroom reluctantly. As soon as the door closed behind him, Iggy turned to me. He raised his eyebrows and crossed his arms over his chest.

"I heard you talking to Fang on the phone. When the hell are you going to break up with him?" Because he couldn't see, his other senses were better than other people's, which explained why he heard me. He glared at me, but I glared right back. Iggy knew about Fang's drinking habits. Fang had actually come to my house drunk once. Only once, but I'd rather not repeat the experience. Luckily, only Iggy had been home. He'd never liked Fang much—even though we were the same age, he was still a protective brother—but now he was positively disgusted with him. He'd been trying to get me to break up with him ever since.

"I'm gonna wait a little while," I said, daring Iggy to argue with me. Iggy knew not to mess with me. I wasn't exactly someone who took crap from other people. Well, except Fang, I guess.

"Max, people do things that they'll later regret when they're drunk. I don't want you to get hurt."

I glared at him. Fang hadn't done anything bad to me physically. Not yet, anyway. "Don't baby me. I can make my own decisions."

Iggy sighed. "Max, I know you're waiting for him to change back, but face it…he's an alcoholic. He's going to do something to you one of these days. I just know it."

I got up from the bed. Why the hell was Iggy telling me what to do? We were the same age! He wasn't my mother! "Don't freaking tell me what to do," I said venomously.

With those parting words, I stalked out of my bedroom, down the stairs and out my front door, slamming it behind me. I took a few calming breaths. I loved Fang. And that was what mattered.

I walked aimlessly around my neighborhood, not really caring where my feet took me. Apparently, they liked the park because I ended up there. The sun was shining down brightly and there were lots of couples walking around hand in hand, looking happy. Didn't they know that love would only cause pain? I sat down on a park bench, watching happy people frolic around. Okay, maybe not _frolic_, but it sure seemed like it. I pulled my knees to my chest and wrapped my arms around my legs. I placed my chin on my knees and just started off into space.

I saw a boy standing in the shadows of a tree. He had slightly long-ish dark blonde hair that reached into his eyes and incredibly tanned skin. He was wearing a short-sleeved shirt that showed off his tanned arms. He looked bored and had his arms against his chest, leaning against the tree. He was looking around the park, as if he was looking for someone or something.

Suddenly, his eyes met mine. His eyes were a beautiful, twinkling turquoise. I could lose myself in their depth. They were framed by incredibly long lashes. My breathing quickened. They were…captivating.

I was shaken out of my reverie by a tap on my shoulder. I turned around and saw Fang looking at me apologetically. I soon found myself getting lost in another pair of beautiful, captivating eyes. Fang's eyes were a deep, midnight black. I couldn't tell where the iris ended and the pupil started. They held just the right amount of mystery to them.

Fang had his hands shoved into the pockets of his black hoodie. He looked like he had sobered up considerably. His dark eyes looked downcast, and I wanted to brighten them up. It was an instinct—he had been my best friend for so long. His black hair hung into his eyes.

"Hey, Max," he said quietly, not knowing if I had really forgiven him or not.

"Fang," I said, nodding, giving him permission to sit down next to me on the bench.

"Look, Max, I'm sorry. I promise I didn't mean those things I said to you." He sounded sincere, but was he really?

"Don't do it again," I said simply.

He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and wherever his hand made contact with my skin, the skin felt tingly. In fact, I felt tingly all over. At moments like these, it was no wonder I loved Fang.

I couldn't resist laying my head on his shoulder, reveling in his warmth and breathing in the smell of him. I forgot all about the boy I had seen earlier with the beautiful turquoise eyes. I forgot about all the things Fang had said to me when he was drunk. I forgot about how Iggy had told me to break up with Fang.

I forgot about the fact that Fang would inevitably call me when he was drunk again.

**AN: Probably not very good. R & R anyway? Hopefully, I'll get cured of my Everything-I-write-will-be-crap-itis sometime soon. Haha, thanks, UNDERLANDERfromtheOVERLAND, for coming up with that name. **


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Not particularly proud of this chapter, but I don't hate it either. Nothing happens. But I like the flashbacks here. Everything in italics is a flashback. **

Max POV

"_So what do you want to do?" a thirteen-year-old version of me asked Fang. It was the middle of summer and we were both bored out of our minds. We were sitting on the front porch of my house, eating the ice cream cones we had gotten. Melted ice cream was dripping down my chin, but I didn't care. Only Fang would see me, after all. He was my best friend. He wouldn't care._

_Though lately, he had been hanging out with a very different group of friends. They were what some people would call the "populars" of the school. I didn't really know why they had included Fang in their group. He had always been labeled as the "emo" kid. He always wore black and had emo hair. Of course, he wasn't really emo, but people sure loved their stereotypes._

_When he had seen me eye his other friends warily on many occasions because I thought they were going to steal away my best friend, he assured me that he would always be my best friend. He had sounded sincere. So I had believed him, considering him to be my best friend even when he started hanging out with me less and less._

_Fang shrugged in response to the question I had asked earlier. Typical Fang. I knew some people would swear he was mute. We sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes._

_After about five minutes or so, Fang looked at me. An unspoken message passed between us._

"_Cool. You've decided what you want to do?" That was what the message in his eyes had told me. He had a look of excitement in it, like he was dying to do something. _

_He nodded but didn't smile. Did he think that if he smiled, the world would end? I finished my ice cream cone, and he finished his too._

_Suddenly, he took my face in his hands, as naturally as he had been eating that ice cream cone. I didn't have time to react, except to widen my eyes a bit. Then he pressed his lips to mine. It was only for a second, but it was bliss. He pulled away all too soon. _

"_I just had to do that," he whispered. Then he got up and walked to his house, which was right next door, leaving me stunned._

_It wasn't as if I had never noticed Fang's good looks. A girl would have to be blind to not notice how hot he was. It was just that we were best friends; it would completely ruin our friendship if we got together. And besides, lots of girls liked him. I was definitely not the only girl who noticed how handsome he was. His looks were probably the only reason he had gotten into the popular group._

_Fang and I would never date and I sure as _heck_ didn't want to go out with him. It would be too awkward. End of story._

_That night, I stayed up late thinking about what had compelled him to kiss me. I thought about the fact that Fang had been my first kiss. Well, I could've done worse. At least Fang was someone I willingly spent time with, not some random creepy dude. Yeah, I could've done _much_ worse._

_The next day, he came over to my house. I had been incredibly worried that things would be awkward between us, but it turned out I hadn't needed to worry. Fang just acted like nothing had happened, and I just played along._

_I didn't know whether that was a good thing or a bad thing. What if he hadn't liked kissing me? What if he would rather just put that horrifying experience out of his mind? But mostly, I felt relived. Now I wouldn't have to deal with the thought that the two of us could become anything more than friends. So maybe Fang had been taken over by aliens when he had kissed me…_

_And so we both unofficially decided to forget about it. And Fang never showed any romantic interest in me. Until we were both 16, that is. _

Today was one of Fang's good days, when he was sober. We were at my house, watching TV. My parents and siblings weren't home. Fang and I were alone. Get your mind out of the gutter, people! I sure as hell won't do anything I'd regret later. Of course, that was partly because I wasn't even sure that I wanted to be with him because of his drinking problem. But on the other hand, I didn't want to _not _be with him either.

My life is crap.

Things were so awkward between us now; would it be better to just end things before they inevitably fell apart? But I couldn't bring myself to break up with him, and I doubted he was going to break up with me anytime soon. Not after how hard he always tried to get me to forgive him after he had called me when he was drunk. I know a lot of teenage girls would "absolutely die" if their boyfriend broke up with them, but I almost wanted Fang to break up with me. At least then I wouldn't have to worry about breaking up with _him_.

We were watching some movie. I wasn't really paying attention, and I could tell Fang wasn't either. We had a good three feet between us on the couch. I could tell that Fang wanted to tell me something, but he didn't feel comfortable starting a conversation. And I wasn't making this any easier for him by refusing to even look at him at all.

Finally, Fang sighed loudly. "Will you stop ignoring me?"

I looked at him, feigning surprise. "I'm not ignoring you," I said sarcastically. I knew that Fang knew me well enough to catch the sarcasm in my voice.

"Are you still mad at me?" he asked. No shit, Sherlock.

I refused to answer him. Instead, I stared at the TV like it was the most interesting thing in the whole damn world.

"I already said I was sorry." Fang sounded more frustrated, more agitated now. Well, good for him. I continued to ignore him.

"I won't do it again," he said. I could tell that he really thought he wouldn't, but it wasn't easy getting rid of an addiction. Fang put his arm around my shoulder and kissed my hair. I continued to ignore him, but didn't pull away. Fang's touch was just so tender, so loving. It was like I was addicted to it, like Fang was addicted to alcohol. I wouldn't be able to live without it. That was the only reason we were still together.

"Max, will you please stop giving me the silent treatment?" Fang asked exasperatedly. Yeah, the silent treatment was _such_ an adult away to handle things.

"I promise I won't do it again," he said against my hair.

I decided I would grant him one word. "Fine," I whispered, not looking at him.

Then he kissed my lips. And that kiss was so amazing that I almost believed his lie. Almost. There was a part of me that was warning to me break off this relationship. But I _needed_ him, so I kissed him back. My life is so messed up.

"This is your last chance," I whispered against his lips.

Fang nodded. "I—"

"I'm serious," I said, interrupting him.

"Okay, I pro—"

This time, it was his phone that cut him off. Fang's ring tone was a Three Days Grace song, Never Too Late. He pulled away from me, taking all his warmth with him. He looked at the caller ID and swore. He held his phone to his ear. He listened for a few minutes, not saying anything. Then he ended the call.

"Max, I have to go," he said with a touch of regret in his voice. He was already getting up to leave. He was out the door before I could say a word. And I was left there alone on the couch. Waiting.

_It was Fang's 16__th__ birthday party. He hadn't wanted a party, but his other friends had thrown one for him anyway. That's what I referred to them as. His _other _friends. The popular people who thought I was an antisocial freak just because I only had a handful of friends when they had many. Even though Fang still considered me his best friend, I wouldn't even have been invited if Fang hadn't insisted. And I hadn't even wanted to go. Iggy had made me. He was friends with Fang's _other friends_ too._

_I was currently sitting in a dark corner of Fang's living room, watching couples dance to loud music on the makeshift dance floor. The furniture had been moved out of the way, making room._

_Earlier that day, Iggy had dragged Fang somewhere, giving time for Fang's friends to set up his house. I hadn't been asked to help. When Fang had come back, they had surprised him. Now Fang's house was packed with people, some drinking and making out._

_I was sitting alone. I wanted to go home, but my mom didn't want me to come home until Iggy did. She wanted me to spend more time with my friends. I had pointed out that most of the people at this party _weren't_ my friends, but she had insisted. _

_Fang was having a good time with his other friends. I had fully expected to be ignored by everyone at this party, and I didn't mind. I spaced out, not really paying attention to my surroundings anymore. _

_Suddenly, someone tapped me on the shoulder. I spun around and saw that it was Fang. He was dressed in his usual outfit of all-black, but tonight, he looked particularly handsome. Wait. What?_

"_Someone seems to be having fun," he said, smirking annoyingly._

"_Sure, this party is so amazing," I answered sarcastically._

"_Do you want to go upstairs?" Fang practically had to yell to be heard over the music._

"_Sure," I answered. There were so many people here. I was beginning to feel a bit claustrophobic._

_Fang took my hand and led me upstairs. Some couples had come up here to be alone. They were practically screwing. Get a room, people. We went into his room and turned on the light, shutting the door behind us. I plopped down on his bed, glad to get away from everyone. It wasn't awkward being in his room; we were just friends. Fang sat down next to me._

_He looked like he wanted to tell me something, but he just sat there. He glanced my way every few moments. The atmosphere in the room was tense._

_Finally, I couldn't take it anymore. "Fang, what's wrong?" I asked._

_Fang took a deep breath, like he wanted to say something before he began to have second thoughts about it. "Max, I really like you," he whispered quietly. Holy shit. Had he just said what—_

_My train of thought was interrupted by somebody's lips pressing against mine. Fang. My brain shorted out immediately. He had his arm around my waist and was pulling me close, closer. And I wasn't resisting. Instead, I found myself knotting my fingers in his hair, pulling him closer to me. I couldn't think. All I could feel was Fang's lips pressed against mine…_

_I pulled away suddenly. The full force of what was happening hit me. I didn't want this. "I, uh…" I mumbled._

_I ran out of his room and out of his house quickly, not caring that my mom would be mad because I hadn't come home at the same time as Iggy. A million thoughts were flying through my head._

_What the hell was going on between us?_

**AN: I have nothing to say for once. Review? **


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